Upper Tribunal: Administrative Appeals Chamber judgments, 2025

Under the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, a traffic commissioner may refuse an operator’s licence application where a relevant statutory…

Contempt by breach of a tribunal order does not require wilful or deliberate disobedience. The applicant must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the respondent…

Entitlement under article 9(1)(c) of the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011 requires satisfaction of four cumulative conditions…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may correct material mistakes of law or fact underlying a…

An appeal against a barring decision lies only for a material mistake of law or a material mistake in a finding of fact on which the decision was based. The…

A later successful claim for state pension does not necessarily limit entitlement to the statutory backdating period. Where an earlier claim was disallowed…

When deciding whether to determine an appeal on the papers, the First-tier Tribunal must apply rules 2 and 27 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal)…

An appeal against a barring decision under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is confined to mistakes of law or mistakes in findings of fact on which…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may reconsider whether the DBS was mistaken in a finding of…

An operator’s licence may be revoked where the licence-holder no longer satisfies the requirement to designate a suitable transport manager. An appeal must…

Inclusion in a barred list is a protective, forward-looking measure. It must be justified by rational reasoning based on a real likelihood of future regulated…

Incompetent representation may justify setting aside a traffic commissioner’s decision where it causes identifiable unfairness in the inquiry. The incompetence…

Under section 72(3) of the Mental Health Act 1983, a tribunal may recommend a particular form of leave to facilitate a patient’s future discharge even where…

An Upper Tribunal costs order is exceptional. Costs may be awarded only within the limits of rule 10 of the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008…

On an appeal concerning Personal Independence Payment, a tribunal must determine entitlement by reference to the circumstances obtaining when the Department…

After the maximum statutory extension period has expired, an appeal may be admitted only in exceptional circumstances where refusal would impair the very…

An appeal against inclusion in a barred list lies only on the ground that the Disclosure and Barring Service made a mistake of law or fact on which its…

Material evidence in a public inquiry should ordinarily be disclosed before the inquiry and raised during it. Exceptionally, later evidence may be considered…

An appellate tribunal reviewing a public inquiry decision must review the material before the original decision-maker and intervene only where the reasoning…

Special educational provision and health care provision may overlap. Health care provision that educates or trains a child must be treated as special…

A tribunal deciding eligibility for criminal injuries compensation must identify the precise alleged offences, make clear findings of fact on each material…

When assessing personal independence payment under daily living activity 9, a tribunal must undertake a holistic assessment of the claimant’s ability to engage…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal must determine for itself whether inclusion on a barred list is…

On an appeal from a Traffic Commissioner, the appellant bears the burden of showing that the decision was wrong. It is insufficient to show that the appellate…

For the purposes of Social Security Act 1998, section 12(8)(a), the issues in a Personal Independence Payment appeal are the descriptors disputed between the…

For Personal Independence Payment, activity descriptors must be assessed on the basis that the claimant carries out the activity as often as is reasonably…

For the higher-rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance, the severe mental impairment rules impose cumulative requirements. The claimant must…

Where a claimant applies more than 13 months after a benefit decision for revision on an “any time” ground, an appeal right arises if the Secretary of State…

Article 2(2)(a) GDPR is a narrow exclusion concerned with activities reserved to EU Member States, such as national security, rather than every activity beyond…

A hearing is not fair where a party’s representative is unable to participate for a significant period because of technical difficulties, and the tribunal…

When assessing Personal Independence Payment activities, a claimant’s ability must be considered at a time when it is reasonable for the claimant to undertake…

When deciding whether exceptional circumstances justify extending the time limit for a criminal injuries compensation claim, the decision-maker must consider…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may hear oral evidence and assess it with the documentary…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may intervene only for a material mistake of law or fact.…

A parental right to withdraw a child from relevant sex education carries an implied obligation to provide sufficient information about proposed teaching to…

An appeal against inclusion in a barred list lies only on the grounds of a mistake of law or a mistake in a finding of fact on which the decision was based.…

A closed period supersession preserves an existing award while modifying it for a fixed period of past non-entitlement. It requires an ongoing, final award; a…

For personal independence payment activity 9, the statutory definition of “engage socially” is a legal proxy for “engage with other people face to face”. Its…

For an injury to be compensable under the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011, “service” means service as a member of the armed…

Section 30 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies only where the public authority holding the information had a duty to conduct the relevant…

For the purposes of Freedom of Information Act 2000 section 44(1)(a), information is exempt only where disclosure is prohibited by or under an enactment.…

When classifying a permanent mental disorder under Table 3 of Schedule 3 to the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011, the…

Entitlement to benefit must generally be assessed by reference to the claimant’s circumstances from the earliest date covered by the claim until the date on…

Where rival parents claim child benefit, entitlement must be determined through the statutory scheme. If both parents satisfy the test in section 143(1)(a) of…

In an appeal on the adequacy of reasons, an appellate tribunal must consider the decision below as a whole, including what may be inferred from it. A tribunal…

Withdrawals from a self-invested personal pension are treated as income under regulation 46(3) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 only where they are…

A traffic commissioner may revoke an operator’s licence for failure to rectify a professional-competence defect within a period of grace only where the…

Where refusal of a period of grace is an integral part of revoking an operator’s licence, the Traffic Commissioner must give sufficient reasons for refusing…

Regulation 26(1)(a) of the Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker's Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Decisions and Appeals)…

Paragraph 59(b) of the 2012 Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme requires both a qualifying relationship and continuous cohabitation in the same household for…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may overturn a barring decision where the DBS made a material…

Eligibility for compensation after an animal attack requires a crime, a crime of violence under Annex B to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012, and…

An appeal against refusal of a restricted operator’s licence succeeds only where the Traffic Commissioner’s decision involved an error of law, a material…

An appeal against inclusion in a barred list lies only on the ground that the Disclosure and Barring Service made a mistake of law or fact. The Upper Tribunal…

Regulation 11 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 does not permit a claimant to combine or phase different temporary-absence disregards. The six-month…

An information notice issued under section 51(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not have to satisfy the separate “reasonably requires”…

Under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, a Guaranteed Income Payment cannot become payable before the member’s service ends. That general rule applies even…

Recovery of benefit overpayments requires a valid revised or superseded entitlement decision and prior notification of that decision. These are statutory…

For Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013 purposes, rest needed before an activity is started is not included in the time taken to…

On an appeal from the First-tier Tribunal, the Upper Tribunal may interfere only for a material error of law. Findings of fact cannot be revisited unless…

When deciding whether exceptional circumstances justified extending a time limit under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012, the decision-maker must…

On an appeal from a specialist tribunal, the Upper Tribunal must respect the tribunal’s primary fact-finding role and expertise. Appellate intervention…

Under PIP daily living activity 1, “preparing food” and “cooking a simple meal” are separate statutory activities. The descriptors are disjunctive: a claimant…

In assessing disablement under Article 42 of the Service Pensions Order, the tribunal must assess disablement by comparing the claimant’s condition with that…

On an appeal from the First-tier Tribunal, the Upper Tribunal’s task is confined to identifying an arguable material error of law in the decision as it stood…

An appeal against a barring decision under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is confined to mistakes of law or fact on which the decision was based.…

An appeal against inclusion in a barred list is confined to mistakes of law or findings of fact on which the barring decision was based. The Upper Tribunal may…

Entitlement to tax credits depends on both presence and ordinary residence in the United Kingdom. A person may be treated as present during an absence only for…

Section 33 of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires a local authority, after parental preference for a particular school has been rejected under section…

An appeal against a barring decision under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is confined to mistakes of law or material findings of fact on which the…

A Traffic Commissioner must follow the two-step process in Article 13.1 of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 when granting a period of grace for an operator to…

A tribunal deciding entitlement to Personal Independence Payment must confine its questioning and reasoning to matters relevant to the statutory issues and the…

An appeal against inclusion on a barred list succeeds where the Disclosure and Barring Service decision was based, at least in part, on material mistakes of…

When deciding whether exceptional circumstances justify extending the time limit for a criminal injuries compensation application, the tribunal must assess the…

On an appeal from a Traffic Commissioner, the Upper Tribunal determines fact and law on the material available to the Commissioner. The appellant must show…

On an appeal from a specialist pensions tribunal, the Upper Tribunal will not re-evaluate evidence or substitute its view of the facts for that of the…

An appeal against a Traffic Commissioner’s refusal of a standard national operator’s licence is a review of the material before the Commissioner, not a…

On an appeal against discretionary barring, the Upper Tribunal may consider all the evidence, including oral evidence received at the hearing, to decide…

In assessing entitlement to Personal Independence Payment, a tribunal must address whether equipment used to reduce the effects of a condition is an aid and…

When assessing financial penalties, a tribunal must consider only matters relevant to the breaches for which penalties were imposed. A finding of an additional…

An appeal against inclusion in a barred list may succeed where the DBS decision was based on a material mistake of fact. The Upper Tribunal may consider all…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may not substitute its own safeguarding risk assessment for…

Social Security Administration Act 1992, section 71ZB(1)(a) to (c), permits recovery of universal credit, new-style jobseeker’s allowance and new-style…

Under Social Security Act 1998, section 12(8)(b), the admissibility of later evidence depends on the period to which it relates, rather than when it was…

On an appeal against barring, the Upper Tribunal may determine factual mistakes using all evidence before it, including oral evidence, but must distinguish…

When assessing substantial risk for limited capability for work-related activity, the tribunal must consider the least and most onerous work-related activities…

Where a decision-maker fails to consider relevant evidence, the resulting decision involves an error of law. On an appeal concerning the refusal of an…

Time for a criminal injuries compensation claim may be extended under paragraph 89 of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 only where both limbs are…

An appellate tribunal must give reasons that allow the parties and an appellate body to understand how the principal disputed issues were resolved. It must…

A challenge to an interlocutory case-management direction will justify permission to appeal only where there is a material error of law and a realistic…

A decision by HMRC terminating a child benefit award for failure to provide information ends the claimant’s entitlement from the prescribed date; it is not…

Whether a body is a court under Freedom of Information Act 2000, section 32(4)(a), requires a holistic assessment of its functions and powers. The question is…

A failure to provide an appellant with the tribunal bundle may amount to an error of law, particularly where the appeal was decided on the papers and the…

A person who completes an electronic tax-free-childcare application and submits its declaration has made a declaration of eligibility, even if they acted by…

An error in a child-support variation is not material where correcting it would reduce the non-resident parent’s gross weekly income from one sum above the…

Detention is lawful where an authorised officer has reason to believe, on the balance of probabilities, that a goods vehicle is being or has been used in…

An appeal against a DBS barring decision may succeed where DBS makes a material mistake of law or fact. The Upper Tribunal may assess all oral and written…

An appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is confined to mistakes of law or material mistakes of fact on which the barring…

An individual development plan must describe in Section 2B all additional learning provision identified as required to meet a child’s additional learning…

Personal Independence Payment Activity 4 assesses the claimant’s functional ability to wash and bathe. It covers the mechanical acts of getting into and out of…

A tribunal must determine the alleged discriminatory act that forms the subject matter of the claim before it. Under Equality Act 2010, Schedule 17, paragraph…

A tribunal decision may contain a material error of law where an applicant did not receive notice of the hearing and consequently did not attend. The error is…

Section 18(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue & Customs Act 2005 prohibits disclosure of information held by HMRC in connection with an HMRC function. Its…

Revocation of a standard public service vehicle operator’s licence is a serious and potentially business-ending sanction. Even where professional competence is…

When interpreting a tariff descriptor, the court must identify the legislator’s intention from the statutory language, context and scheme. A general appeal to…

A standard operator’s licence holder must maintain professional competence through a suitable transport manager. Where that requirement is no longer met…

A tribunal must conduct proceedings fairly by taking practicable steps to ensure that a claimant can hear, understand and answer the questions put to them.…

A purported decision letter does not itself establish that a decision was made. The tribunal must assess the evidence and may find that the letter was issued…

Activity 8 in Schedule 6 to the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 is a single composite activity: navigating while maintaining safety. The word “and” does not…

A mental health tribunal must assess capacity by reference to the particular decision or activity in issue. It must presume capacity, take practicable steps to…

Operators of goods vehicles must maintain effective compliance systems and remain responsible for drivers’ hours, tachograph records, maintenance, defect…

Where housing benefit has been paid to a landlord, regulation 101(2) of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 does not make the claimant solely liable unless…

For the purposes of paragraph 10(1)(b) of Schedule 3 to the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, conduct means a person’s actual behaviour or actions.…

On an appeal under section 4(2)(b) of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the issue is whether the Disclosure and Barring Service made a mistake in a…

An appeal against a barring decision under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 succeeds only where the decision involved a material mistake of law or…

For Freedom of Information Act 2000 section 36(2)(c) to apply, the qualified person’s reasonable opinion must identify prejudice to the effective conduct of…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, a factual or legal error warrants intervention only if it is material to the…

An appeal against inclusion on a barred list succeeds only where a mistake of fact or law on which the decision was based is material. A factual error does not…

An appeal against a Traffic Commissioner’s refusal of a standard national operator’s licence is a review, not a rehearing. The Upper Tribunal should intervene…

A purported child-support supersession decision must decide more than whether a child is a qualifying child. It must determine whether maintenance is payable…

In an inquisitorial benefits appeal, procedural fairness requires the First-tier Tribunal to facilitate a vulnerable party’s full participation. Where the…

An appellate tribunal reviewing a Traffic Commissioner’s licensing decision will not rehear the application. It will dismiss the appeal unless procedural…

A tribunal must construe a notice of appeal fairly, objectively and as a whole. It must make proper allowance for a litigant in person. A point pleaded in the…

A Traffic Commissioner considering revocation of a standard operator’s licence must address a valid request for a period of grace. Failure to decide that…

An appeal against a barring decision is limited to mistakes of law or fact on which the decision was based. It is not a full merits appeal, and the Upper…

An appeal against inclusion on a barred list is confined to mistakes of law or fact by the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Upper Tribunal cannot substitute…

Retention on a barred list engages article 8 and must be proportionate. The Upper Tribunal may consider proportionality as a question of law, although the…

A mistake of law under section 4(2) of the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 must be material. A procedural error is material where it might affect…

An appeal concerning entitlement to the higher-rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance through the severe mental impairment route should not be…

Where a traffic commissioner has found that a standard licence holder lacks appropriate financial standing, a period of grace under Public Passenger Vehicles…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may intervene only for an error of law or a material erroneous…

In the General Regulatory Chamber, an appellant may withdraw an appeal under rule 17 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (General Regulatory…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may itself evaluate all the evidence to decide whether DBS made…

Section 166 of the Data Protection Act 2018 provides a procedural remedy. The Tribunal must decide objectively whether the Commissioner has taken appropriate…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may intervene only for a material mistake of fact or law. The…

Regulation 76(2) of the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012 cannot be applied to a period before it came into force. Doing so gives the…

A Traffic Commissioner has no general discretion to refuse a request to terminate an operator’s licence. Under section 16(4) of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing…

An adjournment application in a traffic commissioner’s public inquiry must be determined by examining all the circumstances, the reasons for the application…

On a statutory appeal against inclusion in the children’s barred list, the Upper Tribunal may interfere only for a mistake of law or a material mistake in a…

A tribunal determining a personal independence payment appeal must investigate and decide every disputed activity sufficiently to enable proper factual…

Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018, section 48, creates no presumption that a maintained school should be named in a child’s…

An environmental-information request framed as a request for any documents or correspondence concerning a site is not confined to later itemised examples…

Entitlement to working tax credit requires satisfaction of every applicable condition in the Tax Credits Act 2002 and the Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and…

For an exemption based on the predicted prejudice resulting from disclosure, a tribunal must assess all materially relevant evidence bearing on the prediction.…

For a variation based on assets exceeding the prescribed value, regulation 69A of the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012 is not limited to…

For a claim under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010, the question whether the relevant “something” arose in consequence of disability is an objective…

A procedural irregularity constitutes an error of law where it is capable of making a material difference to the outcome or the fairness of the proceedings.…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal must determine for itself whether a DBS barring decision is…

Under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may correct a material factual finding on which a barring decision was…

An appeal against inclusion in the adults’ barred list lies only on the grounds that the Disclosure and Barring Service made a mistake of law or a mistake in a…

A person facing inclusion in a barred list must receive a minded-to-bar letter that fairly particularises the allegations. The letter must identify the case…

A mental disorder is not automatically “permanent” merely because it has lasted for a lengthy period. For the higher descriptors in Table 3 of Schedule 3 to…

An appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 succeeds where the Disclosure and Barring Service makes a material mistake of fact or…

A procedural irregularity amounts to an error of law where it was capable of making a material difference to the outcome or the fairness of the proceedings.…

A transitional Universal Credit element cannot lawfully be wholly removed where the combined operation of the rules leaves a severely disabled, transitionally…

For an injury to be “caused by service” under the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011, the tribunal must assess causation in a…

Under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, service may be the predominant cause of a claimant’s mental-health injury even where an underlying condition makes…

An appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is confined to mistakes of law or material mistakes of fact. The Upper Tribunal may…

For the backdating rule in Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987, regulation 6(33), a First-tier Tribunal decision on an appeal can itself…

For the child-support scheme, whether a parent provides “day to day care” to a lesser extent is a question of fact. The tribunal must assess the overall…

A licensing authority must act fairly when deciding whether to revoke an operator’s licence after a period of grace. Procedural unfairness arises where the…

Where a later claim for the same benefit has been determined with effect from a date falling within the period under appeal, the earlier tribunal cannot make…

A standard operator’s licence must be revoked where the operator no longer satisfies the statutory requirement to designate a transport manager and the…

Fairness in a regulatory inquiry requires a person facing a serious and newly raised allegation to understand the allegation and have a fair opportunity to…

Whether retrospective legislation governs an existing social-security claim depends on the proper construction of that legislation. Sections 8 and 12 of the…

For the purposes of determining when the three-month waiting period for the LCWRA element of Universal Credit begins, Universal Credit Regulations 2013 do not…

Where a substantial volume of evidence is served shortly before a tribunal hearing, the tribunal must actively consider whether an adjournment is required to…

Medical treatment is not “available” for the purposes of continued detention under the Mental Health Act 1983 merely because a hospital has the resources to…

An appeal against a barring decision under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is confined to mistakes of law or fact. Whether inclusion in a barred…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may interfere only for a material mistake of fact or error of…

A person may engage in relevant conduct for the purposes of barring even where the conduct did not occur during regulated activity. The statutory question is…

Social-security appeals are decision-based. A tribunal determining an earlier benefit decision cannot make an award for a period covered by a later decision on…

A revocation decision involves an error of law where the Traffic Commissioner fails to take account of relevant evidence because materially incorrect…

An appeal may succeed where a tribunal fails to explain its rejection of material evidence, particularly where that evidence addresses materially changed…

Under Freedom of Information Act 2000 section 11(1), the requirement to give effect, so far as reasonably practicable, to an applicant’s preferred means of…

An appeal against inclusion in an adults’ barred list is confined to a material mistake of fact or law. The assessment whether inclusion is appropriate is…

For listing land as an asset of community value under section 88(2)(b) of the Localism Act 2011, it need not be more likely than not that a qualifying future…

On an appeal under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal must decide for itself whether DBS made a mistake of law or in…

A tribunal must ensure that a hearing is fair in light of a party’s acknowledged communication difficulties. It must consider whether the chosen mode…

A claimant’s clear election of the date from which state-pension entitlement is to begin is a constitutive part of the claim. A claim may be amended only…